


Change Your Mind

by firstfromthesun



Series: saiou week 2020 [2]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Gen, M/M, Pre-Game Oma Kokichi, Pre-Game Personalities (New Dangan Ronpa V3), Pre-Game Saihara Shuichi, also this isn’t typical pregame saihara isnt..... like that, also v3 is a simulation bc i said so, i guess?, i say gen/sort of bc romance isn’t the main focus, now that I mention it there are a lot of headcanons here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26265325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstfromthesun/pseuds/firstfromthesun
Summary: Shuichi took a deep breath. “I signed up.”“Hm?”“I signed up for the game. I sent my application in yesterday.”Kokichi took a moment to register what Shuichi said before turning to face him. Shuichi was staring at the city. Too much of a coward to face his friend.
Relationships: Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Series: saiou week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1909435
Comments: 2
Kudos: 67
Collections: Welcome to Saiou week!





	Change Your Mind

**Author's Note:**

> saiou week day 2: [past life] or despair disease

“Kokichi?”

“Yeah?”

“Did-do you know I...”

“Shuichi?” Kokichi stopped walking. Shuichi glanced at him and kept going. “Shuichi what’s going on?”

Shuichi paused now too, standing in the middle of the empty sidewalk. It was pretty dark out. The shops were all closed but the neon stayed lit. His back was turned still.

“Nevermind.”

“Shuichi-“

Shuichi turned his head back to look at Kokichi. The signs illuminated his dark expression, implying that anything further would push him a bit too far. Kokichi didn’t like it when he got like that.

Shuichi let the other catch up with him before moving again. They made it a few blocks before Kokichi broke the silence.

“Shuichi?”

“I don’t want to tell you.” His voice was sharp, cutting into Kokichi. The smaller bit his lip.

“It’s not that, I’m just…” Kokichi wrapped his arms around himself and put his head down, as if to try and make himself so small he disappeared.

“Are you mad at me?”

Shuichi opened his mouth and quickly shut it. “Sorry.”

That cleared up nothing for Kokichi, but he stayed quiet, too uncomfortable to say anything.

They kept walking.

“Shuichi, where are we going?”

“I don’t know. I needed to talk to you but I’m working on what to say.”

Kokichi hummed. “Well, I know a spot but it might take a bit to get there.”

Shuichi shrugged and let Kokichi take the lead.

The two of them walked for a few minutes more before Kokichi suddenly darted into an alley. “Don’t step on any needles.”

Shuichi, who hadn’t realized his wrist had been taken captive by the other, was suddenly jolted to the space between two buildings.

Kokichi pushed his shoulder into a dumpster with a closed lid. He moved it under a low-hanging fire escape. In a moment, he had climbed up and jumped onto the ladder.

Shuichi watched as Kokichi pulled himself up with upper body strength that looked non-existent in his clearly malnourished body.

“C’mon.”

Shuichi followed suit, albeit with a lot more of a struggle.

When they reached the top of the building Kokichi sighed. He walked to the railed ledge and leaned on it.

“It’s nice up here, isn’t it?” Kokichi’s sentence came out as a question, like he was clearly seeking validation from Shuichi.

“Yeah. It’s alright. Reminds me that I’m missing the latest Danganronpa episode, with all the advertisements I can see.”

Kokichi’s expression darkened but he said nothing.

Shuichi took a deep breath. “I signed up.”

“Hm?”

“I signed up for the game. I sent my application in yesterday.”

Kokichi took a moment to register what Shuichi said before turning to face him. Shuichi was staring at the city. Too much of a coward to face his friend.

“Why did you do it?”

“Why not? It’s a simulation they hook you up to. It won’t kill me.”

“Have you seen what the survivors have said? They might be alive but-“ Kokichi cut himself off, clearly trying not to cry.

Shuichi stayed silent. He tipped his hat down.

“Have you seen what they’ve said? About their mental health? I know you’ve seen the interviews, they can’t even look each other in the _eye_.”

Shuichi was like a statue when Kokichi burst into tears. They weren’t loud, but heaving sobs that threatened to collapse his small frame.

“I can’t let you do that to yourself! You have your whole _fucking_ life ahead of you, you have _me_ , but you’re only thinking about yourself.”

“You could join too? I’d probably forget you, they’re doing the fake memory thing again this year, and last year they had Peko and Fuyuhiko but-“

“Shuichi I can’t do this!”

“And why not?” Shuichi snapped, “It’s not like you have a home, maybe if one of us wins the money you can have a place to stay other than the school dorms. Even if one of us doesn’t win we’ll still be famous and do photoshoots or something to survive.”

Now it was Kokichi’s turn to be silent, but now it was because his crying made it too hard for him to breathe.

“I’m not trying to be selfish. You know that fortune-teller guy from a few seasons ago? Nobody remembers him and he’s loaded now. I’m just-“

“And why are you trying to do this for me?” Kokichi let out.

“Because…” Shuichi bit his lip. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

Shuichi knew exactly why. He just refused to say it. Kokichi could tell. It wasn’t that hard to figure out in the first place. At least, for someone who’d known Shuichi for years.

Shuichi could tell Kokichi wanted to say something about it, but dropped the subject. The two of them stood in silence for a few moments, staring over the skyline. It looked gorgeous. _Not even Mahiru Koizumi could capture its beauty_ , Shuichi found himself thinking before smothering the thought. This is a serious moment. No time (ironically) for Danganronpa.

“Kokichi?”

Kokichi nodded, but didn’t say a word.

“I’m almost certain I got the part. I talked a bunch about past seasons, and how I’d orchestrate the impossible crime, so I’m just telling you in case I have to go.”

Kokichi’s breathing grew heavier again before he pressed his forehead against his arms, which were resting on the bar.

“I love you, Shuichi.”

Time froze around the two while Shuichi stared at Kokichi, who was leaning against the guardrail.

“I love you more than I’d ever like to and I like the person I love now. I don’t want to lose him. So I’m sorry if I’m having a motherfucking breakdown over coming to the realization that you’re not going to come back the same.”

Shuichi felt his hand going to touch Kokichi’s back. Kokichi stood up and faced him.

“This game is going to ruin your life and I’ve seen other people’s lives ruined too. Hell, my own damn cousin’s mental health is killing her. I need to end the game. I’m not coming with you for the money. I’m coming to end Danganronpa and all the suffering that came with it. I won’t tell them, I’ll figure out some lie, but I need to finish it. For you.” Kokichi dried his tears and an eerie look of confidence took over the small boy. 

Shuichi felt sick.

This was really not the time for Kokichi to be giving him second thoughts about signing up.

**Author's Note:**

> personally, i never liked fanon pregame personalities so i made my own!  
> long story short, kokichi’s pretty insecure and really hates dr. shuichi really likes it but isn’t super freaky about it. also i think he’d act kinda cold but he’s still super sympathetic. but yeah, anyways, thanks for reading!!


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